I recall my time at Ricks College with great fondness...for unforgettable memories and dear friends.
How did we meet? At a choir retreat at the Teton Lodge, I started flirting with a boy named Steve. He had caught my eye a time or two in choir (always late to class, but dressed sharp) We cheated to be on the same team for activities, and on the van ride home from the lodge he held my hand. We went to a dance on campus that night...and afterwards a snow wrestling match turned into our first kiss. This picture is from the night of the Cabaret dance where we said our first "I love you's."
Three weeks after we met, he came home to Salt Lake with me to meet my family. Christmas Eve, he proposed to me. We excitedly planned our wedding in the Salt Lake Temple for March 26, 1999.
We were married until 2003, when we divorced for a variety of reasons. Out of respect to him, I will not go in to those reasons for our separation. We had some good times, we had some great time, but we also had many horrible times.
Some may call my speedy courtship and marriage a mistake. Some may call it a "starter marriage." My time with him is part of who I am today. I became an adult much more quickly than I had intended, but I have loved the roles as a wife and mother that I have assumed. As I looked through the boxes in my home in Georgia, I could only find these few pictures from this period in my life. My old wedding pictures are stored deep away in California, and it really feels like a chapter of my life I no longer need to dwell on . I will always be grateful to him for bringing Rosie into the world.
6 comments:
It's so interesting to hear about your past, a past that happened before I met you.
I guess, I'm too used to friends that I grew up with and already know everything about, even though I only have a few in that category....
You were married just one day before my oldest was born. I kept thinking, "How did she know about Alex?" (Even though I knew it wasn't about him at all.)
I think you can take something good out of any situation, no matter how terrible, and it makes me happy to know you recognize that. If it means anything, for the brief time I knew Steve, I saw him as a loving and devoted husband and father. (He either hadn't met his demons yet or he hid them very well.)
Ten years. So much can happen in ten years. :)
I absolutely love that Statue, it's one of my favorite places to go dwell on the Lord when I am fortunate enough to be in SLC.
I think you are very brave to post this and keep these pictures. I could not keep any of the pictures of my ex after what happened between us, I just wanted that chapter closed. I even binned the wedding album.
I agree about being thankful for the children that came from it, and acknowledging that our past experiences shape who we are today. But I have absolutely no desire to re-visit that chapter of my life.
I chose to start a new chapter and purge the photographic evidence of the lie that our marriage was based on. I felt that by keeping the pictures I would keep wounds open, not just mine, but my children's. If they saw pictures of us looking happy-they would ask why we had ceased to be-and I didn't want those ticking time bombs haunting me.
I remember the first time I met you. You had just moved into the neighborhood and were still married to Steve. I always thought you had a beautiful Alto voice. You still singing? I never knew anything about Steve other than the fact that he was married to you. Sorry you had to go through that. All of our experiences here are for a reason and you do have a beautiful daughter!
I had a "starter marriage", too. Thank God for guys like Taylor (and Brett!) who provide wonderful, loving relationships :)
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